CU Phosco’s LED upgrade solution supports Suffolk County Council

Suffolk County Council has set out ambitions for becoming a carbon-neutral organisation by 2030. To support its initiatives, the council launched a streetlight upgrade project in partnership with Bouygues Energies & Services.

The project has aimed to replace 43,400 street lighting lanterns across Suffolk’s roads and residential areas with LED upgrades. Its key objectives were to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint, minimise light pollution, and bring down ongoing maintenance costs, all within an ambitious timeframe.

CU Phosco worked with Designs for Lighting to provide the initial lighting design, then manufactured and supplied Bouygues E&S with 1500 units per working week to ensure the project was completed within the tight timeframe, helping the council achieve the maximum energy savings quickly.

Over 12 months, Bouygues E&S replaced over 40,000 Suffolk streetlights with CU Phosco’s E950 and P863 LED lanterns for roads and residential areas.

The E950 is a high-quality, low-cost solution to replace existing sodium discharge and compact fluorescent luminaires on minor roads. It is dark skies friendly, so offers excellent optical cut-off, drastically reducing light pollution. Likewise, P863 excels in optical performance, thermal management, compatibility and serviceability, resulting in an uncompromised outcome of efficiency and versatility that is future-proofed for an optimised investment.

The project was a great success. Bouygues E&S completed the main installation in just 12 months and accomplished several key objectives, including reducing the council’s energy consumption and carbon footprint, decreasing light pollution, and lowering ongoing maintenance costs. Both the E950 and P863 LED lanterns met the latest British Standard 5605 for roads and conservation areas and provided compliant lighting levels.

Notably, the project achieved 76% energy savings, resulting in £1.7 million in annual electricity cost savings for the council to date. In addition, the LED technology used in the upgrade is expected to increase the lifecycle of the equipment, providing further cost savings in the long run. The upgrade also guarantees better facial recognition and improved light cut-offs resulting in less light intrusion into residential properties.